Shining Through (1992)

Melanie Griffith: Linda Voss

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ed Leland : What I was going to ask you to do is stand up, turn around, and close your eyes and tell me everything you see in the room. It's an observation test. Do you really have a problem with that?

  Linda Voss : Pictures of sailboats and polo ponies; fancy books and diplomas; stuffed fish on the wall; calendar set to the wrong date; bookcases that need dusting; carpets that need cleaning; and a couple of guys from Harvard who are surprised that a girl who needs a job won't be treated like a slave.

• Linda Voss : If you don't let me go, I'll quit!

  Ed Leland : I'll miss you.

• Linda Voss : What's a war for, if not to hold on to what we love?

• Ed Leland : Forget about dying. You're not allowed to die.

  Linda Voss : I've never seen you look scared before.

  Ed Leland : I don't want to loose you. I want to be with you, always.

  Linda Voss : Oh God, you wouldn't say that unless you were sure I was gonna die.

• Franze-Otto Dietrich : [from car to Linda Voss who is walking alone and has just been fired by Horst Drescher]  It's me, ze zoup.

  [points to his chest where Linda Voss had spilled soup on him earlier during the dinner] 

  Franze-Otto Dietrich : He dismissed you?

  Linda Voss : Yes

  Franze-Otto Dietrich : Ze doves were raw.

  Linda Voss : I had no time, I arrived at 6:00.

  Franze-Otto Dietrich : [talking to Linda Voss about Horst Drescher and the dinner of raw dove]  He ate ze whole thing to pwove it was edible.

  [laughs] 

  Franze-Otto Dietrich : You should have seen him. Pompous little ass. Eating a raw bird.

  [shakes his head] 

• Linda Voss : To my father I spoke German. But he warned me to keep this language a secret, because outside of our neighborhood in Queens New York, if people heard me speak German they would either think that I was a Nazi sympathizer, or they would know I was a Jew.

• Ed Leland : [seeing Linda for the first time in six months after their passionate affair, and he has come strolling in with a stunning brunette]  You can come work for me while I'm here, I can always use a good secretary.

  Linda Voss : This is all so civilized, Edward. That's what you like, isn't it? Civilized people, polite ladies with pedigrees who look good at the opera, and never make you laugh too hard, and never make you feel too much. I've had a lot of time to think about this and don't tell me it's the war, when I've been waiting for six months to hear whether you're dead or alive and you waltz into a nightclub.

  Ed Leland : Linda, I came in last night and I was going to call you.

  Linda Voss : Oh, go to hell.

  [He grabs her arm] 

  Linda Voss : Careful, Ed. You might have to admit you know me.

  Ed Leland : Linda, it is the war.

  Linda Voss : You're so noble, Ed.

  Ed Leland : Did I promise you something? If I did, I'd like to know.

  Army SSG in Canteen : Excuse me sir, I thought the young lady might like to dance.

  Ed Leland : The lady is busy.

  Linda Voss : I'd love to dance

  [she starts dancing with soldier] 

  Ed Leland : I'm cutting in.

  Linda Voss : Don't let him.

  Army SSG in Canteen : Excuse me sir, but I don't think the young lady wants to dance with you.

  Ed Leland : Don't try it, or I'll leave here with your Adam's Apple in my pocket.

  Linda Voss : What do you want from me?

  Ed Leland : I want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself.

  Linda Voss : No, you want me to stop feeling, like you... You did love me, didn't you? I couldn't have been wrong.

  Ed Leland : You weren't.

  Linda Voss : Well then how do you stop, or want to?

  [crying] 

• Ed Leland : [she lights a cigarette]  When did start smoking?

  Linda Voss : I don't know.

  Ed Leland : That was a silly thing to do, don't you think?

  Linda Voss : I'm a silly girl. Ed. I think you're living proof of that.

• Ed Leland : [being interviewed]  Your grandmother, she insists you speak...

  Linda Voss : German? She doesn't speak English.

  Ed Leland : She's lived here for...

  Linda Voss : My sixth grade teacher used to do that.

  Ed Leland : Beg your pardon?

  Linda Voss : Used to start a question and not finish it. Like, "the capital of Indiana is..."

• Linda Voss : [reciting what she has noticed in the room]  Pictures of sailing boats and polo ponies, fancy books and diplomas, stuffed fish on the wall, calendar set to the wrong date, bookcases that are dusty, carpets that need cleaning, and a couple of guys from Harvard who are surprised that a girl who needs a job won't be treated like a slave.

  Ed Leland : Are always like this?

  Linda Voss : I forgot to tell you, my other half's Irish.

  Ed Leland : Lethal combination.

• Ed Leland : Do you know what you're getting yourself into, Linda?

  Linda Voss : Yeah, the war.

• Linda Voss : It surprised no one that Ed was too stubborn to die.